The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see
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The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see resource for landlubbers and mariners alike.

Carol Gafford is a public librarian, family historian, amateur archivist and book savior. She is currently the youth services/outreach librarian at the Swansea Public Library and volunteers for several museum and historical societies including the Marine Museum at Fall River, the Swansea Historical Society and the Bristol Historical and Preservation society. She is the editor of Past Times, the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists and is always looking for a new project to take on.

BOSTON – Those who are continuously trying to use Jeff Green as an example of why the Celtics are so bad this season are going to have to acknowledge games like Friday night’s blowout of the Cleveland Cavaliers when the forward is so good.

All year, Green has been the poster child of why this Celtics team simply can’t succeed. His bouts of inconsistency, his willingness to defer, and his overall lack of killer instinct on the court given his abilities as a 6-foot-9 ball-handler with post-up, off-the-dribble and jump-shot capabilities are often cited as examples of why a team with Green as your first or second best player can’t contend for a playoff spot.

Yet, the fact is that when Green puts it together, like he did in Friday’s 103-86 victory against the Cavaliers, and like he has in increasingly consistent fashion this season, he can be scary good on a team that entered Saturday only a half-game out of first place in the Atlantic Division.

On Friday night, Green scored 31 points on 10-of-19 shooting, with nine made free throws, and five rebounds in an effort that was the best offensive output of any Boston player this season, and which came on a night that was further evidence this team is much closer to being a playoff contender this year than a lottery winner.

"I thought he was really good," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "Jeff’s way he has about him right now has been really good in the past couple of weeks. You can tell he is really locked in, really focused and really doing a good job.

"His work in practice has been very good. Sometimes the regular season takes place, and when you get into the regular season you get locked even more. Some guys might get tired, some guys might get more entrenched in it. He looks like he gets more entrenched in it."

Much like last year, when Green overcame the aftereffects of open-heart surgery early in the season for a finishing run that was the best of any player on the roster, he is getting better with time on the court this campaign. After – once again – being bounced between positions that range from shooting guard to power forward, he is settling in at small forward and attacking the hoop with more regularity.

"I think that’s big for him," said starting point guard Jordan Crawford. "Every game he comes out aggressive from the jump, he has a great game. We stay in his ear about staying aggressive, attacking. So it’s good for us."

While there are times when Green still seems unwilling to heed the advice that has been so beneficial to him, he has done it more of late with one payoff after another as the Celtics have fought back from a six-game losing streak to the thick of the early season playoff hunt in the bottom-heavy Eastern Conference.

"I am just taking what the defense gives me," Green said. "It’s hard to pinpoint it because every team plays different defensive schemes. I’m just taking what’s there.

"I got to the free throw line. I got a good rhythm that way. Even though I missed four (free throws), I was able to get to the free throw line, got some layups, got in transition. That enabled me to get some 3s to go down."

Part of Green’s image problem has been that when he scores he seems to float into points, and when he doesn’t he seems to drift out of the action. But former Celtics coach Doc Rivers always insisted that perception was false about Green’s effort. It’s an opinion that his new coach has quickly come to adopt.

"It may look effortless, but he is getting the position," Stevens said. "He is all over the right spots. He is playing very aggressively. He is assertive on the blocks.

"The great ones out there can sometimes look like they’re not – especially the great athletes - can look like they’re not playing quite as hard because they glide a little bit. He certainly is a great athlete. I thought his performance tonight was very full of focus and effort."

For once, there was little doubt about that Friday night as Green scored more points of single Celtic in any single game this season, as he led the team to its most dominating home victory of the year.

"These fans deserve it," he said. "These fans have been supporting us from Game 1. We’ve had some games where we’ve had the lead and we’ve lost it. They continue come to support us. It feels good to get a win like this for them."

Scott Souza covers the Boston Celtics for the MetroWest Daily News and GateHouse Media. He can be reached at 781-398-8006 or ssouza@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ scott_souza.